About an hour later they were seated in front of Kara’s TV. They had to make new popcorn before they started watching the movie. Benoit had seen the bluray of Goon on top of a stack of DVDs and had chosen to watch this movie with her. She’d bought it to educate herself a bit. Not in a completely serious way, but to get another glimpse at hockey. Slapshot was on her list as well. As a kid she’d seen the Mighty Ducks movies numerous times, but who hadn’t?
Benoit asked Kara to get up again. She did as she was asked and Benny put up his legs. He put the bowl of popcorn on the floor and reached for her.
“But I don’t want to crush you.” Kara pushed her hair behind her ear. Looking at him stretched out on her sofa sent a warm feeling through her body which she chose to ignore. It was almost like he belonged there. On her sofa. In her life. No. She wouldn’t go there. They were both not looking for anything serious.
“You could never crush me, chéri.” He grabbed her hand, slowly pulled her towards him until she slowly lay down on top of him. “You’re a lightweight.”
“I’m not, but thank you.” She wiggled a bit around until she got comfortable.
Benoit sighed, pushed her hair back and looked in her eyes. “You are curvy, so what? I happen to enjoy each and every curve of your body and as long as you feel comfortable in it, there is nothing wrong with that. And now I don’t want to hear a word from you, because we’re going to watch this movie.”
The warmth she’d felt seconds ago now spread through her whole body, to the tips of her toes and the top of her head. She stretched a bit to kiss his lips before she put her head down on his chest and face the TV screen. Tears were brimming in her eyes and she didn’t want him to see this. She would not cry. Usually she was good at controlling her emotions and she would get them under control again now. Hearing words like these about her body had been too long ago. She took a deep breath and tried to focus.
“Are you okay?” Benoit whispered these words while he was playing with her hair.
“Mhm”, Kara mumbled, not able to look at him. “Just trying to watch the movie.”
Benoit smiled to himself, put his hand down on her back and turned his face towards the screen. He’d seen Goon once before so it wasn’t bad if he got distracted by Kara every now and then. After one hour of the movie, however, he realized that Kara had fallen asleep. She must have been more exhausted than he’d thought. He reached for the remote control and turned the bluray player and the TV off.
Careful not to wake her, he scooped her up and got off the sofa. He carried her to her bedroom where he put her down. She looked so peaceful. For a minute he thought about leaving her. One look in her peaceful face, the little smile on her lips, made him lie down next to her. As soon as he put an arm around her, Kara snuggled up to him. He pulled the comforter over them and closed his eyes.

They both awoke around the same time the next day, enjoyed breakfast together, but then Benny had to leave. He had to get home and get some stuff done before he could go to the Garden and get ready for the game.
Meanwhile Kara was left with her thoughts. What she’d felt yesterday had probably been because she’d just had sex with Benoit. In her kitchen. It must have been the afterglow, because she’d felt all fuzzy and warm inside. She’d been happy.
Yes. That must have been the reason.
Mika had texted her that she’d meet her at the Garden. Tuukka didn’t want to let her go and how could she say no to him? Kara was actually quite happy about this. She could use some time to herself. She needed distraction and got that with a book. Work demanded too much creativity from her, so reading was the best thing she could do.
She completely forgot the time over this and looked up when her phone rang. It was Mika and Kara wondered what she could possibly want, because they would meet later on.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Where the hell are you?” Mika sounded distressed and she could hear voices in the background.
“At home.” Kara sat up and put the book down. “Why? Where are you?”
“I AM AT THE GARDEN!” Mika practically screamed into her phone. “The game is about to start and you are not here. Benoit already asked where you are.”
“What?” Anxiously she looked around until she found the clock on her wall. “Fuck fuck fuck. I’m so sorry. I was reading a book and totally forgot the time.”
“Stop babbling and get your ass over here.”Mika disconnected.
Shit. Kara crammed everything she needed into her purse and put on some shoes. She would never get there in time but she’d try her best.
In the end she was there when the first period was ten minutes in. She found her place next to Mika and sat down. Apologizing again she dug into her purse, looking for her jersey but she couldn’t find it. Oh no. She’d forgotten it at home.
“Benoit told me to send you to the locker room after the first period.” Mika crossed her arms, her eyes focused on the game, which wasn’t looking too good for the Bruins right now. “You still owe him a kiss for this game.”
And she did. She told Coach Claude, who was overjoyed to see her, that she’d like to drop in and listen if he and the boys didn’t mind. When everyone was filing out again, Benoit stayed behind and walked towards her. “You scared me for a moment.”
“I got too caught up in my book. Sorry.” She bit her lower lip.
“You’re here now. Even if you’re not wearing my jersey.” He bent down and kissed her lips. She felt him smile against them. “Wait up for me after the game, okay?”
“Okay.” She mumbled and watched him go. Afterwards she returned to Mika in the stands and sat down again. Mika had gotten them something to drink and was already staring at the ice again.
The boys definitely looked better in this period. They’d left the ice trailing one goal behind the Canadiens and were back to fight and win this game. It didn’t take long for Patrice Bergeron to score on Carey Price and the whole arena went wild. Mika and Kara hugged each other and were hugged by people they didn’t know.
When the crowd had calmed down a little bit, Kara could concentrate on the action on the ice again. Benoit hopped down and skated towards the net, puck in front of him. And that was when it happened. Brandon Prust checked him into the boards. He went down and stayed down.
He didn’t move for a few seconds and there was blood on the ice. Bruins as well as Canadiens players gathered around him, Prust down on his knees trying to talk to Benoit.
Kara couldn’t believe her eyes. This did not just happen. All the color had left her face. She was white as snow and didn’t hear a word of what Mika was saying to her.
Eventually Benoit got up and needed help to get off the ice.


Benoit’s head was still throbbing when he got home. His eyebrow was swollen and he’d needed six stitches there. His shoulder was blue and hurt, as well as his ribs. All that wasn’t so bad, but the mild concussion would keep him out of the next game. It wasn’t so much that he felt bad, but rather that they didn’t want to risk anything. The team had had enough experience with concussions. They were more than happy to have Horton back and they wouldn’t risk anything with him now.
It sucked, big time, but he could understand their reaction. Concussions were a big problem and he wouldn’t play until the evaluations showed that he was ready again. His hopes were high that he’d only have to sit out one game, maybe even two. He could live with that.
His head was probably throbbing from the cut on his eyebrow and only a bit from the hit itself. The painkillers were slowly kicking in. He wouldn’t take more than he’d already gotten. They wanted him to get lots of rest and see the coaches the following day, so they could talk to him and see how he was. What he needed now, was a hot shower and something to eat. Maybe then the painkillers would fully kick in.
He took a pizza out of the freezer and put it in the oven. He didn’t feel like cooking or ordering something. While the pizza was in the oven, he took a shower and got dressed in sweat pants and a Bruins sweater.
The bell rang when he got the pizza out of the oven. He was a bit puzzled when he went to open the door.
“Carey!” He was genuinely surprised to see his friend there. “What are you doing here?”
“Checking up on you.” Carey Price pushed past him and took off his jacket. “How are you feeling?”
“No need to worry about me.” Benoit closed the door and moved with him to the kitchen. He got two glasses out of the cupboard and poured some water in both of them.
“There’s always need to worry when something like this happens.” Price took a sip from the water and sat down. “Brandon asked me to tell him how you are.”
“They say I have a mild concussion. My shoulder and my ribs are a bit blue but that’s about it.” Benny took a piece of the pizza and started eating. He offered one to Carey, but he declined, “I’ll probably miss one or two games. Tell him it’s okay. Things like these happen and it was just a shock at first. I‘ll be back on the ice in no time.”
“That’s a huge relief.” Carey smiled at his friend, putting both his hands around the glass in front of him. “You scared everyone there. Your friend Campbell was too shocked to react in any way.”
“Can we talk about something else?” He took the next slice of pizza and finished it off very quickly. “This is giving me a headache.”
“Sure.” Carey doubted that it was the topic that was giving his friend a headache, but he wouldn’t start arguing now. “Then tell me about the woman who’s travelling with you.”
“Kara?” His head shot up, making him wince in pain from the movement. He took a deep breath before he continued. “She’s an author and is traveling with us for research purposes. We all like her because she’s fun to be around, witty and learned a lot so that she actually understands what’s going on on the ice.”
“The all around perfect girlfriend then.” Carey crossed his arms over his chest, keeping an eye on Benoit. “She’s certainly not bad-looking.”
“Watch what you say about her, okay?”
“I didn’t say anything bad.” It took him a moment to realize, but then a huge grin spread out on his face. “You’ve got a thing for her.”
“Not only that.” Benoit put the last piece of the pizza aside. “We’re both not looking for a relationship though.”
“Good for you!” Carey wanted to say something else, but they were disturbed by the doorbell.
Together they went to the door and opened it. In front of it were Kara and Mika. Kara’s face was ashen and she looked up at him with glassy eyes. Mika stepped forward, acknowledged Carey with a nod and a smile before she turned to Benoit: “I’m sorry to disturb you, but Kara needs to know that you are okay, otherwise I won’t get her to go to sleep.”
Carey turned to Benoit and said: “I’ll leave you three alone. Call me when you can play again.” Benoit nodded and ushered the two women inside. Seeing Kara like this made him want to wrap her in his arms and hold her tight until she would look normal again.
“There’s no need to worry. I have a mild concussion and might not be able to play for a game or two. Nothing more serious.” He didn’t know what to do.
“Can I leave her with you? She has hardly said a word since it happened and maybe you can get her to talk to you.” Mika took a step closer. “I’ve been trying to make her realize that you’re okay, but she won’t listen to me.”
“Don’t worry, Mika. I’ll take care of her.”
“Thank you.”
Mika left the two of them alone and took Kara’s car to her apartment. She knew that it was best for Kara to see for herself that Benoit was okay and she assumed that her friend would stay there for the night.
“Kara?” Benoit said in a low voice reaching for her. Slowly she looked up, tears brimming in her eyes. Without a word she stepped into his arms and hid her face in his chest. He held her there, stroking his hand down her back and up again, repeating this movement again and again. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks. Carefully Benoit pushed her a bit away and cupped her head in his hands. With his thumbs he wiped away her tears. “Don’t cry, Kara. Everything’s alright.”
“I just got so scared.” She tried to take a deep breath, but had to close her eyes for a moment to concentrate on that task. “When you didn’t get up at first, I…” She trailed off and took another deep breath.
“Come with me.” Gently he took her hand in his and led her to his bedroom where he asked her to sit down on the bed. “Look at me.” He let go of her hand and pointed to his eyebrow. “This is nothing more than a scratch really. It hardly hurts and there might be a scar later on but that’s not bad.” He took off his sweater and put it aside, revealing the bruised shoulder and ribs. “This hurts a bit more, but it’s still not bad. It will all heal.”
“What about the concussion?” Color had returned to her face, but she still looked a little shaken.
“It’s not that bad.” Kara got up and touched her fingertips to the bruised are of his shoulder. “As said, I might miss a game or two. I feel good. A little tired and woozy from the medication now.” He watched her intently, keeping his hands by his side. Kara traced her fingers down to his ribs and examined the injury. She pressed a soft kiss to his ribs, then took his hand in hears and lay down on the bed.
Careful not to hurt himself further, Benoit lay down next to her. She curled up to his side and closed her eyes. He knew that she needed this and apparently so did he. His eyes drifted shut and he immediately relaxed. Feeling her warm body next to his, knowing that she wasn’t worrying about him anymore, made him calm and allowed him to fall asleep.